The blog of author Dennis Cooper

25 Untranslatable Emotions

 

Few of us use all — or even most — of the 3,000 English-language words available to us for describing our emotions, but even if we did, most of us would still experience feelings for which there are, apparently, no words. In some cases, though, words do exist to describe those nameless emotions. These words shape the culture, the interaction between people on an every day basis. And they don’t exist in English.

Design student Pei-Ying Lin solicited the list of “unspeakable” words from colleagues at London’s Royal College of Art, and found that their definitions in English usually came down to something like, “it is a kind of (emotion A), close to (emotion B), and somehow between (emotion C) and (emotion D).”

Next, to visualize the relationship between the foreign emotion-words and English ones, Lin used a linguistics model to map out five basic emotions (large yellow circles), along with several descriptive words related to each (smaller green circles). Finally, she used her sources’ descriptions to place the new/foreign words on an English map.

 

The words:

1. Age-otori (Japanese): To look worse after a haircut

2. Arigata-meiwaku (Japanese): An act someone does for you that you didn’t want to have them do and tried to avoid having them do, but they went ahead anyway, determined to do you a favor, and then things went wrong and caused you a lot of trouble, yet in the end social conventions required you to express gratitude

3. Backpfeifengesicht (German): A face badly in need of a fist

4. Bakku-shan (Japanese): A beautiful girl… as long as she’s being viewed from behind

5. Desenrascanço (Portuguese): “to disentangle” yourself out of a bad situation (To MacGyver it)

6. Duende (Spanish): a climactic show of spirit in a performance or work of art, which might be fulfilled in flamenco dancing, or bull-fighting, etc.

7. Forelsket (Norwegian): The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love

8. Gigil (pronounced Gheegle; Filipino): The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute

9. Guanxi (Mandarin): in traditional Chinese society, you would build up good guanxi by giving gifts to people, taking them to dinner, or doing them a favor, but you can also use up your gianxi by asking for a favor to be repaid

10. Ilunga (Tshiluba, Congo): A person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time

11. L’esprit de l’escalier (French): usually translated as “staircase wit,” is the act of thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late to deliver it

12. Litost (Czech): a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery

13. Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan): A look between two people that suggests an unspoken, shared desire

14. Manja (Malay): “to pamper”, it describes gooey, childlike and coquettish behavior by women designed to elicit sympathy or pampering by men. “His girlfriend is a damn manja. Hearing her speak can cause diabetes.”

15. Meraki (pronounced may-rah-kee; Greek): Doing something with soul, creativity, or love. It’s when you put something of yourself into what you’re doing

16. Nunchi (Korean): the subtle art of listening and gauging another’s mood. In Western culture, nunchi could be described as the concept of emotional intelligence. Knowing what to say or do, or what not to say or do, in a given situation. A socially clumsy person can be described as ‘nunchi eoptta’, meaning “absent of nunchi”

17. Pena ajena (Mexican Spanish): The embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation

18. Pochemuchka (Russian): a person who asks a lot of questions

19. Schadenfreude (German): the pleasure derived from someone else’s pain

20. Sgriob (Gaelic): The itchiness that overcomes the upper lip just before taking a sip of whisky

21. Taarradhin (Arabic): implies a happy solution for everyone, or “I win. You win.” It’s a way of reconciling without anyone losing face. Arabic has no word for “compromise,” in the sense of reaching an arrangement via struggle and disagreement

22. Tatemae and Honne (Japanese): What you pretend to believe and what you actually believe, respectively

23. Tingo (Pascuense language of Easter Island): to borrow objects one by one from a neighbor’s house until there is nothing left

24. Waldeinsamkeit (German): The feeling of being alone in the woods

25. Yoko meshi (Japanese): literally ‘a meal eaten sideways,’ referring to the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language.

 

The map:

Lin also mapped five emotions that are unique to the computer/internet age, and also — so far, at least — unnamed in English.

 

The emotions:

1. A vague and gnawing pang of anxiety centered around an IM window that has lulled: During this time an individual feels unsure whether they have offended the IM recipient, committed a breach of IM etiquette, or have otherwise spoilt the presentation of themselves carefully crafted thus far thanks to the miracles of the textual medium. The individual must be at least vaguely aware that they are being vaguely paranoid, and must tell themselves things like ‘he probably just stepped away from the keyboard’ or ‘I know she is at work right now so perhaps she has stopped replying because she is busy.’

This sentiment of anxiety must surface only after an extremely brief lapse in the pace of the conversation [range of ~30 seconds to 1 minute], and the individual must tell themselves things like ‘it has only been like a minute, don’t worry.’ The individual may mull a mental history of their prior IM conversations with the subject and with others in an attempt to gauge whether the lull is ‘normal’, or to extrapolate what the lull might indicate about the subject’s sentiment toward them. The individual may experience elevated heart rate and depersonalization, and while staring at the screen with an unfocused expression, have catastrophic thoughts about their romantic history, their ability to be liked by others in the future or their key flaws.

2. A sudden and irrational rage in response to reading an ‘@-reply’ on Twitter: The reply is not especially insulting and might be simply a little bit facile, or flippant, or even overly friendly. It is essential that the substance of the ‘trigger’ is not actually upsetting or offensive in any comprehensible way; for example, a total stranger with a particularly goofy Twitter ‘avatar’ might tweet at an individual ‘hope you are staying safe in the snow, [name!] ;)’ in a totally reasonable and friendly fashion and the recipient instead experiences a sudden flash of negative sentiment like ‘who is this person and what makes someone randomly wish for the safety of a stranger, they are probably a loser, I am offended by the attention of this obsequious weirdo.’

Or the individual might Tweet seeking recommendations for what to watch on Hulu and receive a reply that says ‘have you seen [x]’ where ‘x’ is something completely obvious that everyone has seen, and the individual experiences the strong urge to reply with something virulent or to tweet ‘WHY ARE IDIOTS FOLLOWING ME WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE.’ Throughout the immediate rush of irrational hair-trigger irritation the individual is vaguely aware that their reaction is completely inappropriate for the situation of being addressed in a less than desirable way by strangers on the internet. In advanced cases the person tweets something stark or vicious about the state of society or about the internet and deletes it ~15-30 seconds later after realizing it is exceptionally unwarranted.

3. The state of being ‘installed’ at a computer or laptop for an extended period of time without purpose, characterized by a blurry, formless anxiety undercut with something hard like desperation: During this time the individual will have several windows open, generally several browser ‘tabs,’ a Microsoft Word document in some state of incompletion, the individual’s own Facebook page as well as that of another randomly-selected individual who may or may not be on the ‘friends’ list, 2-5 Gchat conversations that are no longer immediately active, possibly iTunes and a ‘client’ for Twitter. The individual will switch between the open applications/tabs in a fashion that appears organized but is functionally aimless, will return to reading some kind of ‘blog post’ in one browser tab and become distracted at the third paragraph for the third time before switching to the Gmail inbox and refreshing it again.

The behavior equates to mindlessly refreshing and ‘lozenging’ the same sources of information repeatedly. While performing this behavior the individual feels a sense of numb depersonalization, being calmly and pragmatically aware that they have no identifiable need to be at the computer nor are they gleaning any practical use from it at that moment, and the individual may feel vaguely uncomfortable or ashamed about this awareness in concert with the fact that they continue to perform the idle ‘refreshing’ behavior. They may feel increasingly anxious and needful, similar to the sensation of having an itch that needs scratching or a thirst that needs quenching, all while feeling as though they are calm or slightly bored.

4. The car collision of appetite and discomfort one feels simultaneously when using the internet to seek and consume images or information that may be considered unseemly or inappropriate: The individual might be viewing a YouTube video of an extremely uncool musical performance, an awkwardly poor ‘stand-up’ performance by a friend or something else they clicked on to be polite during an IM conversation to which the individual would have been unlikely to have navigated on his or her own. Despite the fact that the individual is alone, possibly wearing headphones, or otherwise in a state of adequate privacy, the individual still feels slightly self-conscious in a way that is only possible in the silent digital echo chamber of the internet, under the internet’s populist eye. The individual is unlikely to be able to make more than a cursory assessment of the offending media, and may experience the sensation of ‘suffering through’ it despite the fact that the individual chose, or believes they chose, to view it.

In advanced cases, however, the individual continues to seek out contact with the offending media and offshoots or evolutions thereupon, such as finding a group of Tumblr users who seem insane and flipping rapidly through the Tumblrs while thinking ‘who the fuck would make this kind of Tumblr, how can there be so many people doing this,’ or finding an exceptionally boring and obnoxious Formspring user and thinking ‘god what a terrible person’ while reading ~6 pages of questions they answered. It is analogous to smoking a cigarette while thinking ‘ugh, smoking is slowly causing cancer inside me’ and finishing the cigarette, except for being expanded to ‘emotional landscape’ level and being much more fraught, somehow. The individual may experience a burning sensation or redness in the face or ears.

5. The sense of fatigue and disconnect one experiences after emitting a massive stream of content only to hit some kind of ‘wall’ and forget and/or abandon the entire thing: Most commonly encountered when a person starts to type a comment on a website, such as a carefully-considered response to a news article, generally for the purpose of joining a discussion taking place in a comments section, although this might apply to a blog post or Facebook ‘note’ if the individual is in the habit of generating those on at least a semi-regular basis. The person starts out with a tangible urge to produce a written argument and writes with intensity and immediacy until they notice they have written some 2-4 paragraphs, at which point begin feeling self-conscious about what they have written and wonder whether the length of their comment is appropriate.

The individual begins editing it to feel more concise and effective, begins adding some details and removing others, until an unacceptable length of time passes and the individual feels increasingly ‘fuzzy’ about whatever it was they were writing. They may feel as though the thread of their idea has ‘gotten away from them’ or that each paragraph of the increasingly unruly block of text is weaker than the one that preceded it. The need to say something has lapsed and leaves a dim, fatigued sensation in its place. In advanced cases, a sensation approximating ‘headache’ but not as tangible nor identifiable as ‘headache’ sets in.

The individual leaves their unfinished content in the ‘box,’ and becomes hyper-aware of its transient nature while navigating aimlessly to other tabs. The individual returns to the in-progress content as if to assure it still exists. The individual reads the content through for perhaps the tenth time in total and then presses ‘ctrl-a’ and ‘backspace’ or ‘delete’ and feels a simultaneous rush of relief and impotence when the content disappears. The person feels decimated, depersonalized and powerless while sitting still for a handful of seconds and may feel depressed for several minutes thereafter.

 

The map:

The Untranslatable Words Database, another project by Lin, is a collection of videos which people were asked to explain the untranslatable words in their native language with that lanaguage to the imaginary audience who doesn’t understand the language. It is an attempt to capture the essense of the emotion-related words in different languages through voice, body language, and facial expressions.

The videos are filled with remarks like, “well, it’s sort of like…,” and “I can’t really describe it exactly, but…,” and “I’m not really sure how to put it in English, but…” – and these aren’t folk who have trouble with English. It becomes apparent that, although they have a clear impression of the emotion, and although they’re fluent in English, they can’t seem to bring those two together. They just can’t quite get the emotion in question to fit in the conceptual framework of English vocabulary.

Emotional concepts have a unique place in the pantheon of language, because they are ideas we attach to our inner – and amorphous – sensations of feeling. Our emotional words are the concepts we use to recognize and create distinctions within the sensational experience of being a person.

The words we have at our disposal literally shape how we think about our lives. The floating, fluid, fuzzy sensations we actually feel in our bodies – the warm and tickled tummies, the cold and sweaty hands, the hot and prickly faces – those can be anything. They’re always all over the place. But the emotional concepts we attach to them – excitement, nervousness, shame – those are defined by our languages.

 

This post was an amalgamation of texts and images taken from these websites: Waistcoat and Watch, Popsci, So Bad So Good, Thought Catalog, peilingyyin.net

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** Bernard Welt, Oh, boon! Boy, do I hate it when people ask me what I write ‘about’. Actually, a good way to find out if a reader themself is dumb is to bring up the ‘inadequacy of language’ aspect and watch to see if the looks in their eyes plummet. Btw, see you tonight! ** _Black_Acrylic, Cool. Superb new PTv2, sir. And I thought your description of the episode was the most accurate yet. You have a true genius for flow, my friend. And to take it apart: My soon-to-be publisher was in there with bells on. I forgot that Laurel Halo’s music used to sound like that. I loved what I think was the JD Swift track. Really nice Carla dal Forno track. Nailed episode ending. Etc. Thank you for the brilliant escape. Oh, I like Kafka. Have I made it seem like I don’t? I do. I guess I just don’t mention him much. And no doubt he had a helluva life. Noted. ** Dominik, Hi!!! The film itself is going to be just fine, but the nightmare around it will seemingly never end. You make an excellent point about the value of earbuds as an accessory. But giant headphones might help even more? I don’t know. Ooh, love is so kinky! Interesting. Love making fecal material taste like wedding cake, G. ** Jar a’ Ravioli, Hi there. I think pre-prepared pasta in a jar can work, but pre-prepared pasta in a can is guaranteed nasty. That’s an interesting methodology you’ve invented there. I would test it out but my neighbour listens to The Eagles incessantly. Haha, your poor mama. Mine’s dead, otherwise I would give your strategy a shot. And cheers about the post. And my wishes and you are besties. ** Shirley, Me too! And thank you, Shirley. I’m chuffed. ** Misanthrope, You should probably drink more caffeine. I would love to learn how to thoughtlessly fuck about. I don’t even know what that means. I just spent a minute trying to figure out if I have any fluff in my life, and I don’t think I do. I’m learning a lot from you today. ** Lucas, Hey. Oh, okay, cool, then hit me up when the time arrives or is about to or whatever. Glad your mom’s mood flew by. As long as you’re creatively on the right track, it was worth it. That’s my policy. Same with France about holidays. It’s like France is a car and holidays are gas stations. It rained and rained here yesterday too. I really do like rain, but it gets very, very old when your ‘waterproof’ jacket isn’t actually waterproof. Dry skies for us both today, I say, although, realistically, looking out the window, it’s already too late for me over here. ** Harper, Hi, H. Yeah, I don’t need to tell you that you don’t want to sign up a pestering roommate. It’s so unfortunate that ghosting insane people just makes them go more insane. Good luck. I’m way not a big confronter type either. Warhol’s your big overall dude? Makes sense. I guess mine is Bresson. ** Steve, It was amazing. Hard to consolidate. The tech was top notch. She changed outfits and hair color a billion times in a blink. Live onstage band. The music/songs were fine-tuned, catchy as fuck vapidity. See ‘her’ if ‘she’ hits your area, for sure. I don’t think there’s any doubt in the world that you are correct. ** Sarah, My great pleasure entirely! I don’t think I’ve ever deliberately written a short story. My short things are always just experiments I was doing when thinking about a possible novel or pieces of novels that I didn’t end up using and just reworked into stand alone things. The ones in the little book coming out are things I just described. Anyway, you made a beautiful short fiction that works entirely to say the least. Are you working on a novel now? Good to know, I’ll take eating a dagwood off my bucket list. No, I’ve never broken the vegetarian thing. I’ve accidentally taken bites of things I didn’t know had meat in them. I literally can’t digest meat anymore. My stomach unlearned how to do that. I got really nauseous and sick to my stomach when I even just inadvertently swallowed a small bite of meat. My day is at its dawning, but I think it’ll be okay. I have to do a reading tonight, and I don’t really like doing readings, but it’ll be fine until then at least. And then again when that’s over. What did your day do with/to you? ** `nm.’,b/Darby, That was an interesting code-like new name. I don’t know why, but you plus photography does sound kind of fruitful or appropriate or whatever. Nice camera. I remember when people I knew who were photographers almost always seemed to use cameras that looked like that. The film’s not expensive? It’s handsome. I never thought your writing was bad. I actually don’t think it was. So, I wouldn’t worry. Um, I feel like my writing is nothing but systems, but I don’t think I could define them in such a tight space as the p.s. They’re pretty complicated even though they’re second nature to me now. I don’t do routines. Or not with writing. I think when I wake up or go to sleep I have routines. Hm. Who’s the muffin man? I’d like to see someone with that moniker. ** dwt, Hi! I didn’t end up doing the sewer tour because it’s been raining almost non-stop in Paris for weeks, and they close the sewer museum when it’s rainy because, I guess, the little pathways you walk on are under water? But I will. What are your possible and realistic routes out of brokeness? Ugh. Hugs about and for your dog. The hologram equipment we would have had to work with was impossible to disguise. It was kind of gigantic. We would have had to revise the piece so it was set in some transparent version of ancient Egypt. ** Bill, Cool. Me too. I hate wearing those fucking headsets. I’m going to wait until it’s just like putting in temporary contact lens. ** Oscar 🌀, Ooh, nice, pretty. Uh, (your arm/my branding iron) OSCAR (sizzling sound). The crowd at the Hatsune Miku concert was really mixed. A lot of French/Japanese people, many in cosplay, but also lots of just normal looking French people of every age imaginable from kids to geriatrics. And it was a big venue, and it was totally packed. And most of the people were waving the glow stick-y things, yes. And the vast majority knew every single lyric from every single song and sang along at the tops of their lungs. It was nuts! No, as I just told dwt, the sewer museum was closed because of so much rain. I think it was flooded. Sad. Did you already say what the masters degree you applied for is in, subject-wise? If I forgot, my apologies. And congrats!!! That’s the main thing. What are your chances? Do you know? The building I live in is very old, and the floor of my apartment is very gradually sinking, so the floor is increasingly sort of shaped like an empty lake bed, and I think I would like that process to stop, as curious as it is. I hope when you go outside today, something magical happens that causes everyone to mistake you for Hatsune Miku, and you get mobbed by adoring Asian tourists, and you can pass through walls and steal things and so on and so forth. ** Right. Kind of an interesting little post today, no? Am I wrong? See you tomorrow.

18 Comments

  1. _Black_Acrylic

    “Dreich” is my fave Scottish word. It refers to “dreary, cheerless, bleak” weather but can be used in other contexts too eg a long-winded speech, tedious journey or tardy individual can all be thought of as dreich.

    Thank you so much for your kind words about the radio show! I’m also going to try and crack on with my writing, in the absence of the class.

  2. Jar a’ Ravioli

    You got the Eagles next door to you sir…. Dennis? Damn!!!! My momma got a budgie and that bad enough!!!

    You should live next door to me I sometimes got a heron in the yard and it don’t make too much noise at all

    To tie in with this post im gonna leave you with a song from one of my favourite bands… The emotions ‘Don’t ask my neighbours’ Enjoy sir!

    You be takin care now ya hear!

    Jar a’ Ravioli

  3. Dominik

    Hi!!

    This post has to be one of my all-time favorites so far. One Hungarian phrase (I don’t know if it can be classified as an emotion) I haven’t found an English equivalent for is “sírva vigadás.” It can vaguely be translated as “merriment while crying,” but the original phrase is a lot more succinct and expressive. It refers to the state when you’re full of feelings of sadness, and you let those emotions burst forth through something that’s considered fun – for example, having a huge, drunken party after a funeral or a bad breakup. The music of the Hungarian band Bohemian Betyars expresses this state perfectly – their lyrics are often about feeling adrift, both in life and in relationships, but their sound and style are so upbeat and energetic that they basically demand the audience to go crazy and just dance all of it away. Their gigs are always really cathartic.

    That’d make for quite interesting weddings – among other things! Love never texting back on time, Od.

  4. Bill

    Very fine body of work today, Dennis. I can certainly use more meraki in my life. And more Mamihlapinatapai, haha. I can’t say I relate to the 5 internet emotions though, but then I’m old and cranky.

    New Gastr del Sol double CD of archival stuff arrived. Very nice so far.

    Isn’t the Bob Flanagan event coming soon or over? Hope it went well…

    Bill

  5. James Bennett

    Hey Dennis,

    To reply to your Flann O’Brien question from last week, the ones you mentioned were the ones I read as a teenager and enjoyed. I also tried “At Swim Two Birds” but abandoned it. Maybe it was just the wrong time or something.

    I’ve been listening to “Psychocandy” and “loveless” a fair bit recently, thinking about “noise” vs. “voice.” This seems relevant to your work but I was wondering if there are other ways in which you think “Psychocandy” influenced “Closer”?

    Had a mediocre writing day today.. but read a bit of The Anatomy of Melancholy which made me laugh and got the juices flowing I think.

    Hope you’re well!
    J

  6. dwt

    Will be looking forward to whenever you get to go. I recently bought a book on paris sewermen and was disappointed that there weren’t any pictures. I have some dry heat to trade for the rain if you’re interested. I do love me some sky water and im deprived. Spare a drop… Sir…

    Thanks also for dog hugs. He seems perfectly fine post-seizure. I keep rewatching the video of it. Vets love video.

    As far as job shit goes… I just am tired of being around people and pretending to listen to them. I love people, I do, I love their little brains and hearts (metaphorically), but god I can’t stand them. Haven’t been getting the custodian or library jobs I’ve been applying to. Time to try ebay, I guess. Shrug shrug shrug. Ebay and maybe try my hand at making smut games or something. Who knows. I’ll be ok.

    I found the internet feelings list interesting. It made me think of how often people communicate in pictures or memes. And then I thought itd be funny to think of memes like New Age ASL.

    Til next. 🦠

  7. Justin D

    Hey, Dennis! What a cool post today. I’m now obsessed with the word Waldeinsamkeit and the feeling its translation conjures. I finished ‘Ripley’ last night. It’s almost Hitchcockian in its impeccably controlled mood/tone. I adored all of the Carravaggio references and how his work/life played a part in the storytelling. Overall, it was very impressive (a very different approach to the film adaptation). The best part: its lack of ideology/message. Simply a portrait of a person. It reminded me a lot of what Donna Tartt wrote in ‘The Secret History’ — “Does such a thing as ‘the fatal flaw,’ that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.” I completely understand your TV trepidation, as an eight episode series is definitely an investment of one’s time.

  8. Lucas

    hi dennis!

    My favorite untranslatable word is “doch” from german, it’s literally just a retort/a way to turn around a no (though it can also be used the way “but” / “yet” is). when someone says something you disagree with you can just say “doch!” and repeat that the entire time and it can be your only argument. it’s amazing.

    I actually had a really good day, I was in an amazing mood and started writing this short story I thought of yesterday. I only have written really little so far so it’s not worth talking about, though I showed that to a friend and he said he liked it so yay
    after that I checked out some interviews with charles ray and the way he talks about his work is so illuminating and interesting! it definitely helped me think about what I do creatively in a different way which is always good.
    unfortunately after all that I just had another huge argument with my mom but at least it was about something else this time I guess? but it ruined my mood a little.

    how was your day? I’m especially curious the reading and all that, I wish I could’ve been there but just hearing about it would make me happy. I can’t believe it’s june so soon already. I hope the first half of 2024 has been kind to you!

    sending hugs and great vibes from me and my cat sally who’s decided to sit next to me while I talk to you again

  9. Oscar 🌀

    Ouch! Aw, shucks, a branding iron? Man. Here’s a bucket of ice to cool that off — the ice is a bit jumbled in there, but the shapes seem to spell out “hi, Dennis!” if you squint.

    I don’t think I did mention it, whoops. I applied to do a master’s in publishing! I really want a job in editing, but if I keep going with my PhD I’ll end up editing a really really really niche scientific journal — which would be cool and all, but I think the lack of variety might give me brain rot or something. So, yeah! It’s pretty competitive, but I think coming from STEM rather than something like English lit might make my application stand out a wee bit? Which is handy. Thanks for the congrats! And thanks, too, for the post today! The maps tickled a fun part of my brain. It’s interesting there’s nothing connected to anger in the first map. I wonder if English is just really good at anger or if nobody is good at anger?

    My practical hope is that it stops raining and you can chase your sewer dreams. If that’s not possible, I hope that no less than four Hatsune Mikus appear throughout your day to give you trinkets. Happy Friday!

  10. Harper

    Hey Dennis. That person desperate for a room seems to have vanished, luckily. She forcefully said she would show up but luckily never did. The internet is an amazing place isn’t it?
    Oh, and I got a story I wrote for university marked, and I really thought they would hate it but it got a good mark. The critique I got was that at its worst, it can partly come across being only ‘an exercise in style’. I don’t know if I agree but I’m proud if any nod to Queneau was in that statement. I think there’s a lot of substance in style.

    I’m really interested in if we would know ourselves better if we had all of these phrases in one language. And do we convince ourselves we’re sad or happy when we might be something more complicated that we don’t have a word for in our language? In revolt against language I will feel nothing instead because it’s all too complicated.

  11. Steve

    My dental surgery Friday morning will probably go fine, but I’m rather nervous.

    Have you been to any other J-pop concerts? (Has Kyary Pamyu Pamyu played Paris?)

    I can think of one Internet-related emotion I often feel: anger at digging through my inbox in search of important E-mails only to find that most of them are press releases for Fire Island circuit parties or influencers’ makeup lines.

  12. Sarah

    Hi! Yeah same, just never mean to write anything short ever, always just writing for longer stuff or just fucking around and sometimes it works out different. And thanks again!

    I am working on a novel yeah. Or I’m working on a few, because when I get bored of writing one I just swap to one of the others. I don’t know if it really makes sense as a process, but I figure I should just write what I can write in whatever way possible. They’re all kind of farcical, but I feel like I’m capturing something that I should capture and the emotions are fairly serious. Like, I’m really far into writing an insanely long thing— like way too long— about the life of an evil YouTuber who is like surveilling his family’s every move for content and so forth and beefing with the people who are analyzing all of the stuff he puts out. Which is pretty stupid on its face, but it’s rewarding to write and I think it could turn out okay. Although sometimes it feels like a never ending process.

    I don’t really like an “internet novel” as an idea very much, but I do have a haughty belief that I’m going to write the second good one (the first being The Sluts, if you’re okay with it being categorized that way?). Or maybe third, because Amygdalatropolis was pretty good. Kind of a fake category anyways. I don’t think I was anywhere close to good at writing until recently, so now that I feel like I’m decent I’m pretty happy with it all regardless of anything. Anyways. Let me know if any of this makes sense.

    My day was kind of bad but that’s fine. Was just at work, and I felt sick because I slept awful last night. But I ate breakfast. That was really good. No big sandwiches though. How was the reading, as bad as you expected? Do those last long? I don’t think I’ve ever been to one actually. Except for poetry, I guess. Were you reading with others or are you a solo act?

  13. Shirley

    What a devastating news about Trump Dennis I can’t quite believe it, what are we going to do?

  14. Nicholas.

    bingo bongo im back. Between walking around and sitting in grass and by rivers everyday im pretty busy and I enjoy it. Ooo just saw the promo for new book on the side crazy cover and good font. Slow cookers are amazing and don’t get enough credit toss some stuff in season it and leave and you come back to a delicious meal you can convince people you totally did it yourself it’s great. ill be interesting tomorrow for sure so look out for that. ttylxoxo

  15. Uday

    I love this post! Languages are always so fascinating. It’s been a long and slow week. Didn’t realise how much I rely on this blog to differentiate days. Not much going on, besides cooking for people. I found out my friends are surviving off of animal crackers and microwavable ramen so I’m trying to get them meals and it’s nice to spoil them a bit. Visited my former roommate’s new place and it was very comforting. Was talking to one of your former roommates a few months ago (Jeff Jackson) so that was cool I guess. Some questions I’ve accumulated over the week (I hope I don’t annoy with the incessant questioning):
    1. Did you ever cry while writing a novel (I Wished aside)?
    2. Do you still have a copy of Antoine Monnier? I’m fascinated but can’t find it anywhere
    3. Did you have a nice week?

  16. telly

    Heya Dennis! It’s telly, that guy that pops in every now and then lol. I see some familiar words from my language learning-wannabe days. I tried so hard at that ;-; . I think you’ve said somewhere you haven’t learned much French, despite living in France for a long time. TBF I’m the type to not pick up on language easily either, unfortunately.

    I see another person is asking about Antoine Monnier, and now I’m curious too, haha.

    This time around I’m working on a horny comic about a boy in boarding school outfits suffering >:D Work in progress, but I have finished the comic anthology from last time, though looking back on it not super happy with how it turned out so I’m thinking of spicing up the anthology format. I don’t think you’ve ever commented on school uniforms, though iirc you went to a private school. Have they ever tickled your fancy? They sure do to me, though I never been in private schools in my life. I have about 3 different stories featuring boys in school uniforms. I used to have qualms about sharing my work in fear of judgement etc, but I’ve been so happy lately so why not: https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/tellydraws/there-is-a-boy-that-never-goes-out-pg-2

    I’m so happy to hear about your new book! I gave out a stupid fanboy scream when I found out (OK maybe exaggerating a bit). That and a few other good things going on in my life have lend to my overly-enthusiastic tone of this reply hahaha.

    Have a nice day, Dennis :DDD

  17. Muffin Man

    Hey buddy great news!
    That camera I mentioned, I bought off someone cool and reliable on eBay. I was really thinking about it, then I saw there was only one left in someone’s in cart and thought,
    fuck it!
    https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/wB8AAOSwhX5mMJxQ/s-l1600.webp
    This is the exact one!
    If it doesnt load thats fine. You got it.

    I think its essential to establish system over routines in the mental health field or even just general stability not based on a linear process. Routines can so easily be dismantled from one mistake, but systems are like transit busses coming every hour to pick up then next lost person.
    Routine= increased insanity in the insane even more that it does the sane.
    Like being prone to anxiety, stress, or even things high on the scale as psychosis, mania, depressive eps. Ist like if you set up something based on static fixture it doesn’t make room for inconveniences or…well idk..but whatever it is it can turn a person. I could be on to something I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking quit in-depth about it, but I’ve yet to really put any concrete test to the proof. Like the bus metaphor routines are no-stop trips,
    Also systems give you a better idea about the reason of things ya know? Like outside the boundaries of system is “disorder” but disorder doesn’t just spontaneously come from nowhere and there’s usually a pernicious, slow process to. Well I guess this accounts for most things except the obviously unpredictable. That’s where my process falls flats.
    Im thinking outside the boundaries’ of disorder is Chaos and outside that, encompassing all of has to be dissonance.
    Anyways I don’t want to get very tedious so yes. I have a whole method, things im still fleshing, but im not going to blabber it here, hahah. There’s an answer to everything in the universe, and I will travel earth to space to find em!!

    Have a good weekend I might be seeing a metal line-up at Reggie’s.

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